Path Of Exile Adding Battle Royale Mode For April Fool's Day

Path of Exile is adding a real mode on a fake holiday, and it's pretty good.

The new Path of Exile Royale mode does exactly what you'd think it does: Take the action-RPG gameplay meant for single and co-op grinding and turn it into a multiplayer slugfest where only one player survives.

While the mode only waits only for there to be 20 players in a lobby before starting, up to 100 players can join in on the fun. As with other Battle Royale modes, there's a shrinking circle players must follow to avoid death between bouts with other players. If you manage to actually win one of the modes, you'll receive a Rhoa (which is a kind of dinosaur, which is sort of a chicken?) Dinner ornament to display in your hideout.

You can start playing today once you download the latest patch. 3.2.2.

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Where The Water Tastes Like Wine Sells Far Below Expectations, According To Creator

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a fantastic, methodical narrative trek across America, according to fellow Game Informer editor Elise Favis. Unfortunately for creator Johnnemann Nordhagen, that hasn't translated to the commercial success he hoped for.

"Commercially, it’s a disaster," Nordhagen said in a postmortem on the game. "I can’t discuss exact numbers, but in the first few weeks fewer people bought the game than I have Twitter followers, and I don’t have a lot of Twitter followers." Currently, Nordhagen has a little over 4,200 followers.

Nordhagen has not made any money on the game, and has in fact lost a hefty sum on it, having paid contractors and collaborators on the game a total of $140,000. "At the end of the day it’s astounding that a game that got this much attention from the press, that won awards, that had an all-star cast of writers and performers, that had a bizarre celebrity guest appearance(!) failed this hard," Nordhagen says in the blog post. "It scares me."

Nordhagen also breaks down what went right and wrong with the game's development. Nordhagen cites the diverse crew of writers he hired to write dialogue and characters for the game, compose music, make art, and voice-act (inlcuding an appearance from Sting), press attention, and the support from his publisher Good Shepherd as what went right.

As to what went wrong, he cites a lack of playtesting as a major issue. "While we had a full QA team, they were focused on finding functional problems," Nordhagen says. "When all the systems were in place, it was very late in development, and playing through the game took 10–20 hours. If you make a 10–20 hour game, guess how long it takes to playtest? And so I only managed to do a few full playthroughs of the game near launch."

Other issues, according to Nordhagen, include a lack of expertise at the business and structural aspects of game development, having to switch artists partway through the project, not optimizing the game for mouse and keyboard (he focused on controller support instead), a crowded and risky indie game development market, and overscoping the project from the start, despite the focus on text and still art.

Nordhaggen then goes on to debrief, stating that while the game was costly, he'll be okay financially, though he plans to move away from the costly San Francisco and go into his next project without the expectation to make money off it. "Basically, I’m not sure that games like this one can continue to be made in the current market," he says.

For anyone who likes peeking behind the veil of game development, Nordhaggen's entire post is worth a read.

[Source: Johnnemann Nordhagen on Medium via PCGamer]

 

Our Take
While I found myself fascinated by Nordhaggen's deconstruction of his project, reading that an experimental game didn't sell well is always disheartening. Here's to hoping he finds more success with his next project.

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See How The Mario Party 8 Mini-Games That Tear Friendships Apart Are Put Together

Mario Party has a long history of making people mad at each other. It's well-earned as losing due to a stroke of luck is one of the most maddening things that can happen to someone. It may not be fitting revenge, but there's a little bit of satisfaction in watching how one of these games are put together.

Shesez is back with another Boundary Break video this, this time on Mario Party 8. Because many of the mini-games use fixed cameras, you can find lots of little curiosities by poking outside the lines. Watch the video to see what Toad is hiding in his hands, why the Chain Chomps might be mad about their housing, and how a bowling mini-game can elicit an unsettling sense of dread with its background.

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League Of Legends Getting Pizza And Fried Chicken Skins For 'April Foods' Day

League of Legends is taking a holiday where fake things happen and releasing real DLC. Some of it's paid, some of it's free.

The most notable highlights are three real skins. One dresses up Sivir as a pizza delivery girl, replacing her signature crossblade with a pizza she can hurl at enemies. The second turns Galio into a fried chicken mascot, which I'm kind of surprised hasn't happened earlier. The third gives Draven a skin that gives him an oversized head. Fitting!

Also in the mix are new icons, emotes, color options, and new Birdie capsules and bags (which contain new items to buy), a new map, new missions to unlock in-game currency and items, and bundles. For the full breakdown of what you can get and how, check out the full blog post.

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Counter-Strike Caster Users Racial Slur During Birthday Stream

During a livestream celebrating his 29th birthday, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive commentator Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett, uttered a racial slur in a fit of gaming-related braggadocio.

While playing PlayerUnkown's Battlegrounds, Trivett went into a pumped-up rant about his own skill in esports, eventually using a slur. The archive of the stream has since been taken down. We caution that the video uses strong derogatory language, but you can find another archive of the video here.

In a subsequent "Ask me anything," segment following the stream, Dot Esports reports Trivett mentioned he had been drinking during the stream (the tweet has since been deleted). However, he also lashed out against Counter-Strike community members who upset him, asking them to commit suicide. We once again advise that these videos use strong language regarding suicide. You can find an instance of Trevitt doing this here.

Trevitt has since deleted all of his archived streams, but has not made a public statement on the matter as of this writing. Trivett's outburst is another in a recent series of prominent Twitch and esports personalities using slurs and offensive language. Recently, Twitch's biggest star, Ninja, had his own incident, and pro Overwatch player Felix "xQc" Lengyel had one of his own, which Trivett publicly denounced at the time.

 

Our Take
No matter the context, using racial slurs of any kind in public is not okay, and telling people to kill themselves is just as terrible. Even if when they're used offhandedly, this type of language can be harmful to people of the receiving end, even if they're not the intended target. And seeing how many people have had major public incidents that have affected their careers, you'd think any popular figure in gaming would watch what they say, both because of how unnecessary this kind of language is and because of the PR nightmare that follows.

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Steam Link is $1 plus shipping as part of Hollow Knight, Doom and Human: Fall Flat bundles

Was briefly available for $1 on its own.

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Orcs Must Die! developer lays off 30 staff to focus on single game

New title will be announced 'soon'.

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Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger Delisted From Some Major Online Storefronts

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is one of the games I don't think about too often, but when I do, I think "yeah, you know what? That game was fun." Unfortunately, it seems like fewer people will be able to experience that feeling, as it's been delisted from major console online storefronts.

The game seems to have been delisted from Steam, PSN, and Xbox Live early Friday. Currently, searching for the game on the PSN store does not bring up results for the game, though it's been available on the storefront before. On Xbox Live, you can find its official store page, but all you can find is the demo. You can also find the demo on Steam if you type the name into the search bar, but clicking on the link to the demo will bring you back to the main store page. The rest of the Call of Juarez games are still available, however.

If you absolutely need to get this game now, however, you have a couple of options. You can still get a digital PS3 code from Amazon, or you can buy the PC version off the Uplay Store.

[Source: Wario64 on Twitter, (2)]

 

Our Take
It's entirely possible this is one of those slip-ups you could chalk up to negligence. But considering it's effectively gone from everywhere except Uplay (where it's on sale as of this writing), it's easy to see this as a move to make Uplay games more exclusive... but that doesn't seem right either. If that's the case, why Gunslinger, of all games? I'm going to guess this is negligence or some lapsed licence agreement.

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Kansas passes 'anti-swatting' bill in light of December police shooting

Anyone making a swatting call that results in injury will face a minimum of 10 years in prison.

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90,000 people sign petition against Valve's new CS:GO trading rules

New rules mean you'll have to wait seven days before trading a newly-received item.

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Pokémon Go Gets Sprited Up For April Fool's Day

If you're checking out Pokémon Go's new quest system this weekend, you're in for a fun surprise: sprites!

To celebrate the internet's favorite holiday April Fool's Day early, Niantic is replacing the images of Pokémon that show up in Go's menus with their 2D counterparts. This doesn't affect them on the field or during the catching and stats screens, however.

Of course, Niantic also had some fun with the concept on their blog:

Experience Pokémon GO like never before with cutting-edge 8-BIT GRAPHICS! Registering approximately twice the definition of 4K, the chunky squares of each pixel provide realistic detail and unbelievable definition. Your Pokédex will feel lifelike in ways previously unimagined on any handheld device ever created.

[Source: Pokémon Go official blog]

 

Our Take
Honestly, this change should be permanent. It's pretty cool.

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What To Watch This Weekend: Dota 2, Tekken 7, And Call of Duty

Regionals, playoffs, and championships all make for a nice weekend to just sit back and watch people play games while you're ignoring Far Cry 5's story.

Dota 2's 7.12 patch showed up late for its own welcoming party, as teams had to play on the previous patch for the first day of the Dota Asia Championship in Shanghai. VP may have already qualified for the event, but seeing who might emerge as the second team to secure an invite (and get the $370,000 first-place price) makes a good case for staying up late on a Saturday night for the group stage (or catching the rebroadcast Sunday morning). (Stream 1 / Stream 2 / Schedule)

The League of Legends LCS is coming down to penultimate matches, as the four best teams in North America and Europe face off across the semifinals in the two leagues. (Stream / Schedule)

We've got two major fighting game events this week! Starting off, the yearly Northern California Regionals has your mainstay fighting action, with big-league tournaments for Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, The King of Fighters XIV, and Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite. There's even some community-chosen games, like Arms, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Windjammers, and Pokkén Tournament DX. (Streams and Schedule)

Second, there's Anime Ascension, which features some of the faster-paced, brightly-colored anime games like Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Rev 2, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. (Streams and Schedule)

Call of Duty: WWII is in Birmingham, England for its World League, but you can watch all the action right at home! (Stream / Schedule)

This week's big Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event is taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, where both male and female divisions will face off in high-level matches for supremacy. (Stream / Schedule)

The Heroes of the Storm HGC event is still underway, so if you want to see the crossover MOBA in action, strap in for somet matches. (Stream / Schedule)

Meanwhile, if you miss Overwatch and want some high-level action, the Contenders league should give you your fix of high-octane action while you wait for the full League to resume next week. (Stream / Schedule)

Also, Hearthstone is having its Wild Open tournament. It's the biggest tournament where any card is legal, so who knows what card combos will emerge from the chaos! (Stream)

The Rocket League Championship series continues this week, bringing more of the high-level car-soccer action you always wanted as a kid. (Stream / Schedule)

That's it for this weekend! Let us know if we missed an event, or if there's a scene you'd like us to cover, in the comments.

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Hollow Knight and Darkest Dungeon are $10 each on the Humble Store right now

Part of the Humble Store's Indie Mega Week.

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Free games of the week

The best freebies from the last seven days.

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Rise of Mordor, a Lord of the Rings conversion mod for Total War: Attila, hits first public alpha

A fully-fledged campaign is in the works.

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Boss fights: good or bad?

This weekend's PCG Q&A. Let us know your thoughts.

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Streamer Hits Sea Of Thieves' Highest Rank, Other Fans Are Not Happy About It

Sea of Thieves has a rank of Pirate Legend that was hit this past week by Prod1gyX, but some fans are claiming he didn't achieve it in a fair way.

The Pirate Legend class is not meant to be reached easily. It is the core goal of the game's lateral progression system and gives players an objective beyond the ships-and-treasure gameplay loop. To hit it, players have to hit level 50 in all three of the game's factions, which is no small task.

Enter Prod1gyX, who has been playing Sea of Thieves a lot since release. A lot. One stream of his lasted eighteen hours, which makes it no real surprise that Prod1gyX has amassed quite a group of Sea of Thieves fans eager to see him become the first player in the world to hit Pirate Legend.

As he progressed, and as it became really clear how much work was going to go into this, Prod1gyX started accepting help from the community. Fans of his streams would give him gold, a resource that he could simply turn around to use for himself. While Prod1gyX was doing other quests, people grouped together, completed quests, and had him join in right before they turned it in.

It worked. After hitting level 50 in all the factions and solving a mystery with his crew, Prod1gyX became the first Pirate Legend in the world. 

As a result, a lot of fans of the game are accusing Prod1gyX of reaching the status by cheating and having his audience do most of the work. Fans of the game on Reddit and Twitter have tried circulating a #NotMyPirateLegend hashtag to spread word about Prod1gyX, with comments on Reddit outlining their frustrations with how they perceive his skill at the game.

"He does almost nothing while playing," a comment reads. "He stops every five seconds to look at his chat while his crew is running around doing everything for him. He can't aim, he is a noob with the sword, he has no idea where to go and what to do and just seems confused half of the time. You can totally tell that he got boosted most of the way."

It has been assumed that Rare would, in some way or another, honor the first player to become Pirate Legend, which rubs a lot of fans the wrong way. "If Rare makes a legit shrine to him in the game, I will go out of my way to deface it in every lobby," wrote another user in a now-deleted comment.

For his part, Prod1gyX just finds the whole controversy funny, and doesn't understand why people are mad. "This is nuts,” he tweeted. "I just wanted to see Pirate legend."

 

Our Take
I imagine no small part of the frustration is finding out exactly what becoming Pirate Legend unlocked and fans are focusing on Prod1gyX as a focal point of those frustrations. That said, I doubt anyone at Rare expected this is how the first Pirate Legend would ascend and I'm pretty surprised they didn't see it coming a mile away.

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Remembering Hylics, the surreal art RPG

With Hylics 2 on the way, it's time to look back at the original strange museum of pixels and clay.

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Another ARMS Global Test Punch Punches In This Weekend

Nintendo is holding another online demo for ARMS, their Switch boxing-based fighting game, this weekend for players to try for free.

The demo runs from from March 31 through April 3 with a selection of characters from the full roster. A number of characters have been added since the game's last demo, but it isn't known which ones will appear in this weekend's global test punch.

You can go ahead and download the client now ahead of it going live. It might be a good chance to see how you like ARMS after all its updates or just something to play around with over the weekend with people online.

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Weekend Warrior – Easter Edition

Happy Easter weekend everyone! If you're not into all of the commotion with bunnies and eggs, that's ok too; it's still a great weekend to play some video games! Here's what some of the Game Informer staff is up to on this deceptively cold spring weekend.

Brian Shea (@BrianPShea) – And from seemingly out of nowhere… AN AVALANCHE OF GAMES! I did, in fact, finish Pokémon Omega Ruby last weekend, so now I’m playing through Far Cry 5 and MLB The Show 18. Both games have their flaws, but I’m enjoying them. In addition, I’d like to finish Yakuza Kiwami prior to the launch of Yakuza 6 next month, but that’s looking less and less likely at this point. Also, I might spend a lot of time looking at my phone this weekend, as I’ve been putting some significant time into Marvel Strike Force this week, and Pokémon Go launched its quest system today. Thankfully, I don’t have any plans this weekend, so I should have plenty of time!

Leo Vader (@leovader) – Last weekend I got ranked in Siege for the first time at Silver 2, which I was quite proud of! As of this writing I’m now down to a gentleman’s Bronze 1. Truly having some of my favorite gaming experiences ever planning and executing strategies with my group, so satisfying to spot the holes in an enemy team’s defense and capitalize on them. I love this game! In the off-hours, Far Cry 5’s Arcade Mode is surprisingly varied and fun to play co-op! Especially the Arcade Hero mode which sends you through random player-created maps one at a time for double XP, which earns you cash and perk points to use in the main game. Overall, a disappointingly cookie cutter game but I think what they have with the Arcade mode is really fun and novel. What can I say, I’m an Ubisoft boy!!! HAGS!!!!

Ben Hanson (@yozetty) – Hi everybody! Oh man oh man. This weekend I’d love to spend more time with Ni No Kuni II, it’s stupid easy but I’m having a wonderful time playing the game so far. Outside of that, maybe I’ll keep dabbling with Far Cry 5. Have a good weekend!

Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard) – I’m hoping to see Ready Player One this weekend, dig deeper into Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, and do some Easter stuff – if it’s not snowing.

Robbie Key (@RobbieKeyV) – Copy and paste sleeping response from last week.

Jon Bowman (@MrGameAndWrite) – I'll be doing my best to avoid my family as much as I can, so what better way to do that than with video games? I was pretty excited to play Far Cry 5 in co-op until I learned that only the host's story progress is saved, but reading Leo's response to the Arcade mode makes me want to give it a shot. On the flip side, I also want to back to Destiny 2 and see how beastly the "Go Fast" update makes my beloved Dawnblade warlock. Maybe after that I can find a game to play that I won't have to try so hard to like, or just play some more Fortnite.

Suriel Vazquez (@SurielVazquez) – I’ve been playing Far Cry 5 with my brother this week, and while I’m not crazy about the game, it’s just fun enough that I’m going to keep at it. I’m also going to keep plugging away at the Assassin’s Creed Origins DLC. It’s bigger than I thought it was, but I’m starting to get slightly worn by the simple quest design. Finally, Dota Plus has done its job by hooking me on Dota 2 again, so I’ll probably squeeze in a few matches of that in as well.

Joey Thurmond (@DrJoeyStein) – I’m going to play A Way Out this weekend! While I don’t think it will be as revolutionary gameplay-wise as Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was, I’m looking forward to seeing how the changing perspectives influence puzzles, traversal, and whatnot. I’ll also be taking some time to (actually) finish up a book, write up some drafts for articles in progress, and spend time with friends.

Matt Bertz (@mattbertz) – I’m going fishing and bear hunting in Montana – at least that’s my hope. Thus far, the overzealous hillbillies in Far Cry 5 keep getting in the way of my leisure activities, so my outdoorsman pursuits will likely come at the cost of several lives. All those white pickup trucks will have to find new owners, but it’s not my fault. They always shoot first! 

Imran Khan (@imranzomg) – I have fallen down a hole in Monster Hunter World again. The Deviljho Great Sword is way better than the Nergigante great sword I JUST MADE, so now I need that one. I’m also continuing to play Kirby Star Allies which, despite its sleepy difficulty (or lack thereof), it is still cute and charming.

Andrew Reiner (@Andrew_Reiner) – My weekend begins with the construction of a Barbie toy for my daughter, and ends with three hours of Overwatch on Sunday night. In between these two events, I hope to tackle as much Far Cry 5 as possible. I also want to see Ready Player One again, this time with my wife, who is just as big of a pop-culture nerd as me. 

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This week's highs and lows in PC gaming

Hot takes so sinful you'll get kicked from the cult.

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Persona 5 Anime U.S. Airing Simulcast Starting April 7

The Persona 5 anime, an adaptation of the game's storyline, will be airing in the U.S. on streaming services day and date with the Japanese broadcast courtesy of Aniplex USA.

The anime is in line with the Persona 4 anime, following the game's protagonist – here named Ren Amamiya – awakening his Persona and forming the phantom thieves in Tokyo. Earlier this year, Aniplex USA released an English-subtitled version of the anime's first trailer, which you find below.

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You can stream the anime the same day it broadcasts in Japan on both Crunchyroll and Hulu. Most of the Japanese cast is returning to reprise their roles and composer Shoji Meguro will also be composing for the show.

[Source: AnimeNewsNetwork]

 

Our Take
The Persona 4 anime mostly excelled at showing the S.Links as deeper characters, which Persona 5 also tried to do in its main game, so I am curious if this adaptation takes a different strategy. I'm interested to see at least the first few episodes and see how well it handles the transition.

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PUBG 4x4km map test begins Monday, and we'll have access keys to give away

If you get a key you'll be able to check out the tropical map, codenamed "Savage," even if you don't own PUBG.

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Fortnite passes Minecraft to become the biggest game on YouTube

Fortnite racked up more than 2.4 billion views on YouTube in February alone.

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Booze makes you a better wizard in The Bard's Tale 4's great RPG combat

You need to drink. Just don't drink too much.

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Fortnite Mobile Adds Tip To Stop Playing In Class

 

Fortnite mobile is making life hard for teachers as classroom after classroom succumbs to its spell. Now, Epic has a loading screen message about it.

The little message, which reads "Mr. Hillman says stop playing in class" has been added to the game's loading screen and was posted today by Fortnite's community manager K.L. Smith. It is a reference to a now-deleted Reddit post from the Fortnite subreddit which read:

Since mobile came out my students won’t stop playing in class. Idk if it’s possible, but I told them I’d write you and they didn’t believe me. Could you add this to the loading screen for a couple days to mess with them?

“Mr. Hillman says stop playing in class”

The post got comments like "Epic don't let his memes just be dreams" and "Just ban phone chargers in your class. Your students will only be able to play two games before their phones die and they’ll have to pay attention."

Epic has added the message specifically for Mr. Hillman's class. If you're not in Mr. Hillman's class, I'm not sure what the rules on this are, but it's probably a good idea not to risk it.

 

Our Take
Mr. Hillman won this battle, but I think the war belongs to the students.

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Watch a minute of gameplay from Human Head's canceled Prey 2

The clip showcases brief bouts of gunplay in a neon-lit sci-fi world.

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Telltale teases The Walking Dead's final season with a nostalgic Clementine callback

Clementine steps up to fill some big, sad shoes.

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Date Death In Let It Die Spin-Off Let It Date

While mystery still surrounds the nature of Let It Die's upcoming event involving content for Killer7, Grasshopper Manufacture has announced an even more... interesting idea with Let It Date: a dating simulator that will release as its own game on PlayStation 4.

Players will be able to ascend the Tower of Barbs not through skill, but with style as they experience the game's unique brand of dialogue by romancing main characters from Let It Die. We're not entirely sure who will be "dateable" other than Uncle Death, but whatever waifu or husbando you choose to court in Let It Date, there's nothing quite like making the reaper your senpai when he's viewed you as his own for so long.

Be sure to check out Daniel Tack's review for the game to see why it made Elise Favis' list of the greatest modern horror games. You can also read our interview with the mastermind (Suda51) behind it all.

 

Our Take
There's a point where nothing's a surprise to you with certain developers and publishers, and when it comes to the bizarre antics of Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture, there are no limits. No limits.

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Factorio prepares to leave Early Access, price increase incoming

The developer also says it will never go on sale, so you have until April 16 to get it for the current $20 price.

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Sega Releases Part One Of Its Sonic Mania Adventures Cartoon Short

Sonic's back for another adventure, but this time in an animated sort. After the positive reception to Sonic Mania's animated intro, Sega has released the first part of an animated series called Sonic Mania Adventures on Twitter.

Sonic Mania Adventures: Part 1! pic.twitter.com/x5AzrEBnOB

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) March 30, 2018

In the first installment, we see the titular hero tracking down his arch nemesis, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, before falling into the doctor's trap. Sonic is able to outsmart the nefarious Eggman by playing at his sense of greed. Once freed from his predicament, Sonic finds a device Eggman had been using to track down a series of gems and discovers that some unknown character is in possession of two of them. Will we find out who holds those two gems, and will that character be friend or foe? Will Eggman be able to obtain all the gems? We'll have to keep an eye out for part two of Sonic Mania Adventures to find out!

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Funny To A Point – Getting Stupid In Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 is now out in the wild, and the game definitely qualifies as more Far Cry. Luckily, being stupid makes everything more fun.

I've been playing a lot of Far Cry 5 over the past two weeks, and like most of these dumb columns, I originally planned to write up a long and meandering hodgepodge of impressions and jokes about the game. However, there's just one problem with that approach: Our Far Cry 5 reviewer and excellently named Jeff Cork summed up pretty much everything I was feeling about the game in his review. Even worse, he snuck a wickedly punny headline past Joe. So that's impressions and jokes! Considering we played almost the entire game together in co-op, it felt like quite the betrayal (don't worry, we're over it now).

Anyway, while I didn't care much for the can-you-believe-how-bad-I-am villains that are constantly monologuing at you or the pared down activities (if I can't craft my own XXL-sized wallet out of the skin of whatever animal I just shotgun-blasted in the face, I'm OUT), I still had a good amount of fun with Far Cry 5. It just wasn't scripted fun – Cork and I excelled at making our own hijinks-infused entertainment, which I captured via PS4's recording feature.

So, without further ado, here are 14 funny/surprising/patently stupid moments that perfectly encapsulate my time with Far Cry 5.

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The Unimpressed Fisherman
Ignore the terrifyingly glitchy semi-truck and Cork's horrid ATV skills – what really cracks me up in this clip is the reaction of our fishing friend. What has this guys seen is his life to not even bat an eye at our reckless display? Also, this clip pretty much sums up every road trip when Cork is behind the wheel.

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My Co-op Partner Is A Monster
Don't believe me about Cork? Consider this Evidence B. We both unwittingly jumped into the backseat of this poor civilian's sedan, only to have him start driving aimlessly across a bridge. I asked Cork if our driver was smart enough to drive to our destination, but we didn't get a chance to find out – instead Cork shot him pointblank with his shotgun, and then climbed over into the driver's seat. Fair enough. I got out and barely managed to get into the passenger's seat as he took off (I have a sneaking suspicion he was trying to ditch me) – only to watch him unapologetically run over our pet bear! What a monster!

From there the clip devolves into the standard action you'd expect from Far Cry, but I love how Cork still had a cheery enough attitude to honk the horn along to the music. Again: MONSTER.

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The Miracle Takeoff
Cork has a penchant for immediately crashing anything with four wheels, but two wheels and two wings is a completely different story. Turns out Cork is an amazingly adept pilot. Sure, his first attempted takeoff immediately sends us careening down the side of a cliff, but after that he manages to get airborne by driving up the side of a tree! Now that's an ace!

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Air Swimming
Another thing Cork is great at? Swimming through the air, apparently. At least I think that's what he's doing – after he bailed out of our helicopter, I watched him majestically paddle his way through the air and somehow stick the landing on the ground. Seriously, how did he do that?!

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Parachute Delay
This bad guy clearly doesn't have the same gravity-defying skills. I mean, I guess he has some kind of gravity-defying skills, but they don't work out in his favor. Christ almighty, indeed!

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Old Lady Kicking
Look, I can't condone all the things Cork and I did while playing Far Cry 5. But in my defense, this old lady looks really funny when she falls down. Also, she had a seriously negative attitude – even before we started kicking her! So yeah, maybe repeatedly kicking an old lady is rude, but in a way she started it. AND it's funny. Can you really blame us?

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Bad Day At HQ
Alright, there's no defending this one, really – Cork and I just decided on a whim to see how many NPC allies we could punch the crap out of. The one thing that's missing from the video, however, is Cork laughing maniacally over his headset at their constant screaming. It was good times.

I also like how quickly everyone gets over it at the end – a deadly cult has taken over the county, so let's just let bygones be bygones, eh?

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Stealth Shooting
Sure, you can equip silencers on your weapons – but what's more stealthy than invisible guns? Sadly the glitch only lasted a few minutes before triggering a quest made them appear again.

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Hold That Thought
The NPCs in Far Cry 5 can be unpredictable to say the least. So how do you make conversations appear fluid and realistic like in real life when something unintentional happens? I don't know, but this ain't it.

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That Was My Dog...
Other times NPCs are surprisingly disinterested in what's going on around them. Like this jerk quest giver. Where's PETA when you need them?!

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Ally Down
That disregard for life even extends to themselves sometimes! This one particularly had me cracking up, because the quest giver was in the middle of a painfully long story about an enemy named "The Cook," who burned his victims alive. Maybe you can't blame him for all the fire-related deaths in Hope County though...

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A Strange Encounter Pt. I
I don't even know what the heck was going on here, and I don't want to know!

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A Strange Encounter Pt. II
Thankfully, Cork was on hand to snap them out of it. In his own way.

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Far Cry 5's Most Exciting Side Mission!
And finally, I recorded the entirety of Far Cry 5's most exciting side mission! It tasks you with saving a bear named Cheeseburger from invading cultists. After tracking him down with Cork, I fed the captive bear a fish to unlock the next objective, but it unexpectedly locked me in place in return. Still, based on the gunshots, explosions, and banjo music, it certainly sounds like an exciting mission!

For more Far Cry 5 shenanigans, check out the archive of the Sick Stunts Livestream Bonanza that we did earlier this week. It's basically just two more hours of Cork and I blowing each other up in the name of shenanigans. That is the best part of Far Cry, after all!

Need more laughs? Put on your fancy pants and click the banner below to visit Funny To A Point's laugh-o-rama hub!

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Level-5 Says All Future Main Titles Will Be On Switch

Akihiro Hino, the CEO of Level-5, has told Japanese website Nikkei Trendy that they plan to focus mostly on the Switch from hereon out.

Level-5, the developers behind games like Professor Layton, Inazuma 11, and recently Ni No Kuni II, told the website that were going to end up doing a lot of their games on Nintendo's hybrid system in the future.

"Basically, in the future our main titles will all be released on Nintendo Switch," Hino said. "The idea is that what we have created for 3DS will move over to Switch.”

Hino was, at first, quite skittish about the system. As a successor to the Wii U, Level-5 treated the Switch rather tepidly at first, but Hino appears to be on board now. The initiative to bring games to the system begins with Snack World, another Level-5 cross-media project that has faced quite a few struggles since its announcement in 2016. The game originally launched on 3DS but a Switch version was announced earlier this year.

What Level-5 games do you want to see on the Switch? Let us know below in the comments.

[Source: Nikkei Trendy via Gematsu]

 

Our Take
Hino was justifiably skeptical of the system to begin with, but I fear they might be playing catch-up now. Level-5's business plan involves creating multimedia franchises that rule Japan for a few years before moving on to the next one, so I wonder if the Switch's slightly older demographics versus the 3DS will allow them to keep doing that.

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Get a job: Mothership Entertainment is hiring a Technical Director

The Technical Director will take responsibility for developing, maintaining, and optimizing the next title in the Aven Colony franchise. ...

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Where The Water Tastes Like Wine was a 'commercial disaster,' dev says in painful post

"I’m not sure that games like this one can continue to be made in the current market," Johnnemann Nordhagen said.

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Fortnite's newest weapon makes it possible to ride your own rocket to victory

Check out this very SFW clip to see what we mean.

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A look at EA Sports' push for more accessible sports games

"I decided that if I ever had the chance, I would try to improve the game so a wider audience could play Madden," Karen Stevens shares her experience building those features into games. ...

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A look at EA Sports' push for more accessible sports games

"I decided that if I ever had the chance, I would try to improve the game so a wider audience could play Madden," Karen Stevens shares her experience building those features into games. ...

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PUBG's Smaller, Tropical Map Enters Testing Next Week

PUBG's newest map, Codename: Savage, is venturing away from its mountainous and desert backdrops to tinier tropics, and players can try it out soon.

Savage enters its testing phase at 7 p.m. PDT on Monday and runs until 4 a.m. PDT on Thursday. "We’re doing this because we want to start getting your feedback as soon as possible and drive the development in the right direction," an official PUBG post on Steam says. Details on how to participate have yet to be shared, though the allotment is finite. "At first, we are going to do a more limited test for Codename: Savage to make sure that nothing is too broken" the post says. "Again, it’s a super early build, we hope you understand. The next test will be bigger!"

The tropic map, which was first announced last week to celebrate PUBG's one-year anniversary, adopts a 4-by-4 grid compared to the original and dessert maps' 8-by-8 size. For further perspective on Savage's size, it's slightly bigger than Fortnite's Battle Royale map, at least according to some early player calculations.

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Only one map is currently available on the Xbox One and mobile versions, though it's safe to assume the 4-by-4 setting and dessert area will eventually at least come to the Xbox One iteration.

For more on the battle royale genre, check out our fierce debate on which game is better between Fortnite and PUBG.

[Source: PC Games N and PUBG on Steam]

 

Our Take
While PUBG's bigger and lengthier maps are parts of its identity, a smaller, less time-consuming setting could make for a nice change of pace to matches.

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Fortnite and Call of Duty: WWII drove digital game spending in February

Free-to-play spending on PC declined in February, but game purchases are up

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Far Cry 5's biggest mystery is why it won't let me play baseball

There's a ball, a glove, a baseball diamond, and a minor league player standing at the plate. Can you play ball? Of course not.

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Sea of Thieves' first Pirate Legend used his fans to boost him, and players are pissed

Using a clever workaround, Prod1gyx was able to reach the rank of Pirate Legend in Sea of Thieves.

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Grab this Dell 24-inch 1440p gaming monitor with G-Sync for $330

A sweet panel at a great price.

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Twitch Layoffs Target Major Players

Twitch is being hit with layoffs targeting some of its major players, according to a report.

Esports journalist Rod Breslau is reporting on Twitter that the company has laid off "more than 25 people from the Twitch Studios and Community/Marketing teams yesterday, including several high-profile employees who have been with the company since Twitch began."

Among the employees laid off were major content creators and executives, including director of strategic partnerships Jon Carnage, video production manager Adam Contini, director of content marketing Ben "FishStix" Goldhaber, and vice president of community and social Justin Wong. Goldhaber recently posted a tweet saying he'd had "a pretty good run" with the company, implying he has indeed been let go.

7 years.

From 25 employees to 1200. 5 million monthly uniques to 100. 0 partnered creators to tens of thousands. Millions of lives changed, hopefully for the better.

It was a pretty good run, I'd say :')

— Ben Goldhaber (@FishStix) March 30, 2018

According to Breslau, the layoffs were said to be due to Twitch "overhiring" employees and having to readjust. The layoffs were done by VP of Content Michael Aragon, who Breslau reports was not in the office that day and conducted the layoffs through a remote call, and that affected employees were told to leave immediately.

You can read Breslau's entire thread on the layoffs by clicking the tweet below.

Twitch laid off more than 25 people from the Twitch Studios and Community/Marketing teams yesterday, including several high-profile employees who have been with the company since Twitch began, sources said. People were told that Twitch had 'overhired', and this was to re-adjust.

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) March 30, 2018

A Twitch spokesperson provided the following statement regarding the layoffs:

Coming off the record-setting numbers shared in our 2017 Retrospective, Twitch is continuing to grow and advance with success stories from Overwatch League to Fortnite's milestone-setting streams. In order to maintain this momentum, we have an aggressive growth strategy for 2018 with plans to increase our headcount by approximately 30%. While we've conducted team adjustments in some departments, our focus is on prioritizing areas most important for the community.

[Source: Rod Breslau on Twitter]

 

Our Take
Restructuring happens all the time at major companies, but seeing major, recognizable faces being let go seems somewhat strange. Also, if you're going to lay people off, you should at least be able to do it in-person instead of through a video screen.

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New Guacamelee 2 trailer says it's coming 'soon-ish,' and the original is 90 percent off

You can get Guacamalee's Gold Edition for $1.50 through April 13.

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Sea of Thieves, Destiny 2, and the problem with games that always need 'more content'

We discuss what it means when there 'isn't enough content' in games like Sea of Thieves, Destiny 2, and No Man's Sky.

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Colin Trevorrow Returning For Third Jurassic World Movie

Colin Trevorrow, the director of the first Jurassic World movie, is returning to helm the third one.

The news was confirmed today by Jurassic Overlord Steven Spielberg in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Trevorrow, who directed the first movie, passed on directing the sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom after being tapped to work on Star Wars: Episode IX instead. Trevorrow and Disney split on that project and Trevorrow was replaced by J.J. Abrams.

The third movie is currently being penned by Trevorrow and screenwriter Emily Carmichael, who also worked on Pacific Rim: Uprising, with an intention for a June 2021 release. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will release on June 22 later this year.

[Source: Entertainment Weekly]

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Enermax releases an all-in-one RGB liquid cooler with a built-in flow indicator

The flow indicator is built into the waterblock.

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Corsair sides with gamers in video mocking cryptocurrency mining

Won't someone think of the graphics cards?

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Blog: A development postmortem of Pressure Overdrive

This postmortem depicts the ups and downs leading to and during the development of Pressure Overdrive, a twin-stick shooter on wheels set in a colorful steampunk world. ...

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PUBG's 4x4km tropical map is 'Codename: Savage', testing starts next week (Updated)

Images and footage inside.

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1.41 patch addresses corrupted saves problem

The 1.4 patch and a free HD texture pack were released yesterday, but a serious bug slipped in too.

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Telltale Releases Teaser Images For Walking Dead's Final Season

Indie developer and publisher Telltale Games has teased two pictures to promote The Walking Dead: The Final Season.

The first image – shown at the top with a caption on Twitter that simply reads "..." – shows dozens of walkers in a grassy field drawn to protagonist Clementine's hat, which has some blood stains. With an ax in hand, Clementine is bracing season two's Alvin Jr. from zombies in the second photo, shown below. As one Twitter user pointed out, this teaser with Clementine for The Final Season is a reflection of her father, Lee, protecting her from an attack during the series' first season.

Telltale is planning to reveal gameplay for Clementine's finale during a panel from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. EST on April 6 at PAX East. Those who wish to watch the panel can go to PAX's Twitch channel here.

Find out Clementine's fate when The Final Season is available this summer.

[Source: Telltale on Twitter]

 

Our Take
It's hard to fathom the series that helped put Telltale and choice-driven narrative games in the spotlight is coming to an end – well, at least Clementine's arc is. We hope it goes out on a high note, though if the series' numerous dark turns are any indication, it might not be the happy one we secretly want.

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